Thursday, September 23, 2010

I dare you to call us the Party of No.

This morning GOP leadership, led by Ohio's own John Boehner, unveil their Pledge to America.

The Pledge isn't, and shouldn't be, a line by line breakdown of specific policy proposals to be enacted over the next two years. Instead, it's a starting point, and a substantive one at that.

The editors at the National Review said it best:

All year long, conservatives have been pressuring Republicans to release a Contract with America for 2010 — an updated version of the campaign platform that the party unveiled before its 1994 sweep of Congress. Thursday morning, Republican congressmen are responding to that pressure by making a “Pledge to America.” The inevitable question will be: Is the pledge as bold as the Contract?

The answer is: The pledge is bolder. The Contract with America merely promised to hold votes on popular bills that had been bottled up during decades of Democratic control of the House. The pledge commits Republicans to working toward a broad conservative agenda that, if implemented, would make the federal government significantly smaller, Congress more accountable, and America more prosperous.

It's certainly legitimate to discuss and criticize the Republican agenda. But that leaves a question: What is the Democratic agenda? What are Democrats promising to do if the voters decide to return them to control of the House?

The answer is: There isn't a Democratic agenda.

Shortly before the Republicans rolled out their plan in Sterling, Virginia, I called the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. I asked spokesman Ryan Rudominer whether, since we now have the GOP agenda, there is a similar document laying out what Democrats will do if voters return them to power in the House. There was a moment of silence on the other end of the call.

"Look, you know, each race is going to have their own individualized message," Rudominer answered. "So look, we're not putting together a gimmicky package like this six weeks before the election. We're talking about making each of these elections a choice."

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